Re: Failed GO SAVE 21

On 26-Aug-2015 14:39 -0600, John McKee wrote:

<<SNIP>> Is there any way to know if it is a PTF issue? System is
pretty much idling now, but might still be some rumbling if it were
to become unavailable. And, my ancient fears of the dreaded "Link
Loader error" remain. I know it has been said that "Link Loader"
error was fixed a long time ago - by people on the list who
definitely know.

The "Link Loader" is software, and just like other software there is unlikely just "that" error. The link-loader-full condition may be alleviated by allocation extensions, but that does not imply there will be no more future link loader [full, or other] failures; again, software fails, for a variety of reasons.

Still, if it is software, since no changes have been made to hardware
since a disk drive failed months ago, I can't help but wonder why a
tape change is now suddenly an issue.

The assumption that the failure is specifically about not properly transitioning to a new tape may be incorrect. Aside from that, software often fails in nuanced ways with various /changes/ that are not recognizable nor explicit changes implemented; what is the domain of the operating system can /change/ even if nothing specific was knowingly changed on the system, such as the OS creating object(s) in support of tasks\processes, most notably the QHST [history] files will be getting created, as well logging growth in files and LIC storage areas such as LIC Log and PALs. Somewhat analogous to the failure might be something like someone having inserted a row with bad data, after which the application suddenly fails; essentially a software failure appears after the insert action by other processing, manifests as a visible failure that previously was not being logged by the application -- the software always would have failed in that manner, but until then, apparently the application never had the opportunity to /trip over/ that bad data.

I was told that even without software support, I can order PTFs.
That, from a hardware guy.

I recall reading of some tightening of access to support\service, but I do not know how that applied to PTF ordering. Even if PTFs are ordered, nothing happens on the system until the PTFs are loaded and/or applied; i.e. the ordering can be effected entirely separate from any ramifications of any actual application of the maintenance [if those PTFs are even delivered].

Is the answer as simple as "just do it"? And the next GO SAVE 21
will magically be OK?

Personally I would try to get a good backup, even if not an opt-21 save, prior to any maintenance. The inference that the issue arises due to a volume transition, if correct, might suggest that structuring the saves differently from opt21 while saving similarly all that is necessary for a recovery of user data [e.g. with restore of the OS from other than the SAVSYS], could circumvent the issue.